Rabbah bar bar Chanah and the Broken Barrels
Porters break Rabbah bar bar Chanah’s barrels of wine. Rav tells him to forgo his claim and, because the workers are poor, to pay them their wages too.
In this column, we previously discussed Rabbah Bar Bar Chana’s workers who broke the barrels of wine they were hired to transport (Bava Metzia 83a). Rabbah attempted to enforce a rightful claim of negligence against them. Rav, though, instructed Rabbah to let the workers off. Since they did not break the barrels on purpose, Rav deemed it appropriate that Rabbah should go beyond the letter of the law and let the matter slide. Incredibly, since the workers were poor, Rav instructed Rabbah to pay their wages as well, even though Rabbah received no benefit from their labor.